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Bangladesh’s foreign debt repayment crossed the $2 billion mark in the first six months of the current fiscal year (FY), as the government continues to face mounting pressure from rising external liabilities.
According to the latest updated report published by the Economic Relations Division (ERD) on Wednesday, Bangladesh repaid a total of $2.19 billion—equivalent to $2.195 billion—towards principal and interest payments between July and December of the ongoing fiscal year.
This amount is $210 million higher than the repayment made during the same period of the previous fiscal year, UNB reports.
The report highlights that external debt servicing has been increasing steadily over the past several years.
In the last fiscal year alone, Bangladesh had to repay more than $4 billion in foreign loans.
ERD data show that Bangladesh received about $2.5 billion in foreign loan disbursements from development partners and donor countries during the July–December period.
However, nearly the same amount—around $2.2 billion—was spent on repaying earlier loans, indicating that most of the inflows were absorbed by debt servicing rather than financing new development activities.
In terms of fresh commitments, Bangladesh received a total of $1.99 billion in loan pledges during the first six months of the current fiscal year.
This marks a decline compared to $2.30 billion in commitments recorded during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
ERD officials said that in December alone, the country secured $770 million in foreign loan commitments.
Among the development partners, Russia emerged as the largest lender in terms of disbursement during the six-month period, releasing $576 million.
The World Bank followed closely with $550 million, while the Asian Development Bank (ADB) disbursed $520 million.
Other notable contributors include China, which released $220 million, and India, which disbursed $105 million. Japan provided $120 million during the same period.
ERD sources, however, noted that none of the major bilateral partners, including India, China, Russia and Japan, made any new loan commitments during the July–December period.
Despite the absence of fresh pledges, these countries continued to release funds against previously committed loans.
Besides, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) did not make any new loan commitments to Bangladesh during the first half of the current fiscal year.
Officials said the growing gap between disbursements and repayments underscores the increasing strain on Bangladesh’s external debt management, at a time when foreign exchange reserves remain under pressure.